International
Cuts force Manchester to axe 2,000 jobs
Cuts force Manchester to axe 2,000 jobs
Reuters/London
A council worker pushes a rubbish cart along a road in Manchester, northern England yesterday. The Manchester City Council plans to axe 2,000 jobs because of a sharp cut in funding |
The 17% cut in its workforce was needed because the council had to make savings of £110mn over the next year. The job losses are higher than the 1,200 previously expected and will reinforce fears that government spending cuts will feed a surge in unemployment among public sector workers.
Manchester said it was among councils worst hit by the austerity drive. While the city had been reported to face an 8.9% cut, it actually needed to make cuts of 25% over the next two years.
"The unfairness of the government’s financial grant settlement for Manchester ... has been widely reported,” said the council leader, Labour’s Richard Leese. The council is looking to cut its staff "as quickly as possible”, but was not giving a time frame, a spokesman said.